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Illinois
Frontier Town...
... where black and white Americans lived together
peacefully on the antebellum Illinois frontier.
Contacts:
Philip Bradshaw, President, NPA
Griggsville, IL 62340
Carol McCartney, Secretary, NPA
E-mail:
jeffm@adams.net
Help
us preserve the New Philadelphia site.
Join us as a member!
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January 2012 45th Annual
Conference on Historical and Underwater Archaeology
This is
the national (and international) professional conference for
historical archaeology sponsored by the Society for Historical
Archaeology. Approximately 1,300 people were registered, for 100
symposia, forum/panels, general sessions, and poster sessions over
four days. The New Philadelphia Archaeological Project
was well represented. In addition to the New Philadelphia session on
Friday afternoon, January 6th, five of the nine undergraduate
students on the 2010 project were in attendance along with several
crew members from previous years.
Click here for the symposium abstract on New Philadelphia.
New Philadelphia named to National
Register of Historic Places as a National Landmark
The
entire townsite of New Philadelphia, Illinois is now listed on the
National Register of Historic Places as a National Landmark
(as
of October 29, 2008). It is now recognized by the federal government
as being nationally significant. Thank you Michelle Huttes and
Charlotte King (who did the Landmark Application) for doing all of
the hard work writing the nomination. It was quite a feat to get
letters of support from
Senators Obama and Durbin as well as the Governor of Illinois.
Release of January 12, 2004
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION SUPPORTS
EXCAVATIONS AT NEW PHILADELPHIA
Report updates available
HERE.
During the next three summers
professional archaeologists from the University of Maryland,
Illinois State Museum, and the University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign with the support of the New Philadelphia
Association will work in Pike County to unearth New Philadelphia's
past. In 1836 Frank McWorter founded the town of New Philadelphia,
the first town incorporated by an African American in the United
States. Today, the town is all but invisible to the untrained eye.
Only a few remaining foundations can be seen in the plowed field
near Barry, Illinois. The goals of this upcoming research project
are 1) to learn more about this racially integrated community that
existed for about one hundred years and 2) to train undergraduate
students.
The National Science Foundation has
awarded three years of funding to support this research that will
train nine students annually in its prestigious Research Education
for Undergraduate (REU) program. The goal of REU is to recruit a
diversified pool of talented students who do not have a chance to
participate in rigorous scientific curriculum. The program will
increase the participation of women, underrepresented minorities,
and students from local colleges and universities.
Each summer students will work with
professional archaeologists and perform state-of- the-art
geophysical testing at the archaeological site. They will use radar
and other scientific techniques to help locate foundations, wells
and privies. Students will then work with mentors to carefully
excavate portions of New Philadelphia. They will also spend time at
the Illinois State Museum where they will work with the experienced
staff to scientifically analyze artifacts, animal bones, pollen, and
seeds retrieved from the fieldwork.
The excavations promise to provide
significant information about the development of New Philadelphia
and the life ways of its many inhabitants before, during, and after
the Civil War. This work will add to our understanding of this
important part of our national story.
Read the latest updates on the field
school
HERE.
Point of contact:
Dr. Christopher Fennell
NSF-REU program
Department of Anthropology
University of Illinois
109 Davenport Hall, MC-148
607 S. Mathews Ave.
Urbana, Illinois 61801
cfennell@uiuc.edu
(217) 244-7309
Web address for site info and
application forms go to:
www.histarch.uiuc.edu/NSF/fieldschool.html and look for the link
to New Philadelphia and the NSF-REU program. The 2008-2010 grant
proposal can be seen
here.
Participating institutions
directly sponsoring the field school: University of
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Illinois State Museum; DePaul University
We also appreciate the support of the
University of Maryland, University of Illinois-Springfield,
University of Central Florida, Hannibal-LaGrange College, and
Sprague’s Kinderhook Lodge.
When: Summer
2008-2010
Where: New
Philadelphia, near Barry, Illinois, Pike County |
